destinations

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Tota Puri . He was born likely in Hinglaj now in Baluchistan, Pakistan in a border village to Erst while Punjabi Suba of Mughal India. He was a parivrajaka (wandering monk) who have followed the path of the of Advaita Vedanta . Totapuri taught Ramakrishna that the sole reality of the impersonal Absolute could only be realized in a state of consciousness devoid of all conceptual forms. Ramakrishna described Totapuri as “a teacher of masculine strength, a sterner mien, a gnarled physique, and a virile voice”, and addressed him affectionately as Nangta, the “Naked One”, because as a renunciate he did not wear any clothing .

Girnari Bant is the place where the revered saint Totapuri had lived the last 40 years of his life. He attained Mahasamadhi in August 1961. He was a saint of highest order and had mastery over all forms of sadhana. He had initiated Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in the higher technique of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. There is a banyan tree inside the ashram where he would spend a lot of time engrossed in meditation. Girnari Bant is an ideal place for spiritual seekers to engage themselves in meditation and contemplation.

Sri Ramakrishna later described the significance of Totapuri’s lessons
“When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive — neither creating nor preserving nor destroying —, I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active — creating, preserving, and destroying —, I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one.”